A Friend In Need
by Shinzoku
Summary: Soul Eater Next Generation fic. "…his soul is…well, he puts up a front. As happy as he seems on the outside, his soul weeps, and to find a partner to cure that sorrow… it'll be hard."


"…_his soul is…well, he puts up a front. As happy as he seems on the outside, his soul weeps, and to find a partner to cure that sorrow… it'll be hard._"

He stood at the bottom of the stairs, holding himself up against the steady flow of students that rushed up to the entrance of the academy. Rushing was not his favorite thing so he said back and listened to the hearty laugh of the sun, struggling to get his name tag pinned to his shirt. As usual he was not making a very good impression, his hands so nervous he was shaking and wearing a shirt that he only hoped was clean, but maybe he could make a friend here that he could be with for a long time. His father was always teaching him how best to wield a weapon, but Tidus was unsure of himself. This whole partner thing was stressing him out! But he forced himself to put on a smile and clicked his pin through his shirt. People were already being led through the halls, so he sprinted up the stairs and made it just as the doors were closing. They were free to wander the halls and get to know each other, but they were to report to the NOT classroom by lunch time with their chosen partners. Tidus sighed and looked around, trying to put on his kindest smile, just like his mother told him to.

Despite that, he was still nervous. He had gotten good at hiding himself and pretending to be happy, and only people who got to know him realized his despair. They always left, perhaps the reason he was so nervous now. What if he was not able to match wavelengths with anyone? What if they met him, pegged his sad, inside demeanor, and left him? People were buzzing around and acting as if he did not exist, though he knew he did not put himself out there much. At least he was not crazy and killing people like his father apparently did…right?

He walked across the checkerboard tiles, swinging his head back and forth to get a good look at the place. His pin sat proudly on his breast pocket, announcing to others that he was a meister. He smiled happily to anyone who passed him and…and he was pathetic for a sixteen year old. Regular school was good for keeping quiet, but here he would actually have to…work with someone. It was hard for someone to work with Tidus; he was just a naturally introverted child. He was one of the oldest there as people seemed to be about twelve or eleven, but he had known of older people coming there. Like one of their best Death Scythes, Crona, who started when he was seventeen. Tidus felt a little better about himself and went looking through a crowd, trying to introduce himself.

"Hi, I'm Tidus," he said over and over to each person he could, smiling at their own smiles and giving them a little wave. "I'm a meister."

"We can tell," said one quiet little girl who gave a little chuckle. "It's on your tag! You're pretty old to be coming here!"

Tidus raised an eyebrow, fiddling with the sleeve of his long button-up shirt. "Yeah, I…I didn't want to come until now…" he said, his voice shaking a bit. He forced another smile and went on his way, looking at the variety of students that were going to the academy. It made his silver hair, dull green eyes, and gray clothes seem a little boring.

He hummed to himself and continued to stroll through the hallways, opening doors as he saw fit. There were many tiered lecture halls and he even ended up finding the infirmary, and though he enjoyed the solitude, the ringing of laughter and joy lingered in the back of his head. If he found the way to the library and started to read, there would be no harm, right? Maybe if he found a book? The books on the bottom level were open to anyone, if he remembered correctly, and it was only seven thirty; lunch was not until twelve. There were a few hours to kill.

When he found the library, Tidus pulled a book from the shelf and sat down at the table, crossing his feet and making himself comfortable. The dim light of the candles barely lit up the room as many windows were open and letting in a breeze, but they never stopped burning and never ran out of wax. They gave a pleasant smell, too, that relaxed his shaking and nervous arms. Often times, his father said, they would take those who did not have partners and put them together in a room until one was found. More information would be given sooner—like if people could change partners or not—so for now he just leaned back in his chair, pulled his foot against the table to balance himself, and put the book against his knee.

It was a rather good book, but before he knew it, someone was up in his face, whispering a quiet, 'hello?' that dragged out forever. Tidus blinked open his eyes, not realizing that he had dozed off, and let out a shriek. He threw his book into the kid's face and reached for the table, letting out a groan when his chair fell backwards and he hit his head against the tiles.

"Dude, I am so sorry." He felt someone rolling him over and grab his hand, and he readily complied when they pulled him to his feet. He was so kind as to smoothen his shirt and apologized profusely. "Really I'm so sorry. Hm? You're a meister?"

Tidus held his head in his hand. "Y-yeah," he said, furrowing his eyebrows. "What are you doing in here? Everyone else is outside." To distract himself, he became busy with organizing the books on the table and putting them into neat stacks.

The blond kid shrugged and reached over to help him. "None of them are interesting," he said with a pained smile. "I came in here to find a book to read after a few hours, but when I found you, I was surprised. I'm a weapon."

"So I see. How long have you had your demon form?"

"A few months now, actually. My parents wanted me to finish up the last few weeks of school, and my dad's been trying to get me to actually control it better. It's not working. Oh!" He stuck out his hand with a smile. "My name is Katsu Evans. Fourteen years old."

Tidus shook it. "Tidus Stein. Sixteen years old."

Katsu's grin grew even bigger. "Like the Stein my parents are always talking about?" he asked, eyebrows upturning when Tidus gave a quiet sigh.

"Yeah. He's the Death Scythe meister and my mother's a Death Scythe." He laughed quietly to himself. "But oh well. Maybe I can make my own name here; we are supposed to live in the dorms, after all, and I don't think I'll be leaving much."

A rather comfortable silence settled over the two as they stacked the books. Katsu was the one to first break the silence. "I know we might not end up true partners," he said, "but no one else seems interesting enough. You like books, I like books, there has to be a correlation somewhere, right?"

With a tiny nod, Tidus put the books back on their shelves. He did not speak for a while, glad that someone finally found him to talk to him, as he was not one to initiate a conversation himself except for those few times when he really was trying. Katsu seemed to be a rather nice boy, charming too, and he thought that maybe, just maybe, they could be partners.

"You seem like a cool guy, what do you like to do?" Katsu asked on their way out of the library. He dug his hands into his front jean pockets. "I like to read, and cook, and kick ass."

Tidus raised an eyebrow and gave a thoughtful hum. "I read, too, and I like to talk walks—"

"On the beach at sunset?" Katsu teased.

"Right. Very funny. I like to walk and fight. My father's been teaching me to use weapons. I like watching the little critters run around, too." He shrugged. "I do a lot of school work, too. It keeps me busy, you know?"

The other scrunched up his face and turned cold blue eyes at him. "School work sucks," he said, "but I agree with you on the whole 'keeps me busy' thing. My brother's really the one for smarts, except he doesn't apply himself." He rolled his eyes as exaggerated as he could. "Little brat gets away with everything."

"I'm sorry I don't know how you feel about that. I'm an only child, unfortunately." Tidus sniffed and ran a hand through his hair. "And I'm always going to be an only child. Do you know what my parents told me? I was a surprise. Heh. More like accident, am I right?"

"Hey, don't get so down over it," Katsu pointed out, resting a hand on his shoulder. "You're not an accident at all, I can already tell you're going to be pretty awesome!" He gave the biggest, brightest grin that he could and began to turn down a hall. "We still have fifteen minutes, but might as well get there early, right?"

Tidus nodded and jogged to catch up to Katsu. He was pretty happy with himself at the moment; Katsu seemed to be very open and pleasant around him, and in such short time, too. This guy—Tidus liked him. He briefly smiled and followed his new friend, though in the pit of his stomach he got a bad feeling. He seemed too eager to follow and lingered back a few seconds, following now at a much slower pace. Coming on to someone too suddenly was not…so great, as his mother told him.

He shook his head when Katsu called to him and sped up, keeping pace with the younger boy. "Yes?" he asked. "Something up?"

"Just wondering why you're so slow!" Katsu said, shrugging a bit. He removed his hands from his pockets and hauled open a door; it was a larger lecture hall than most of the others around, and seated were many of the other new students. In the front were teams of some of the most well known meisters and weapons, and it seemed to be some kind of workshop. Katsu gestured to him to sit down in the front and he smoothed out his black t-shirt.

Nervously the older slid into the desks next to him, fiddling with the ends of his sleeves again. They were frayed and held together by weak seams. As much as his father said he could fix them, Tidus would decline, not wanting his clothes covered in the strange stitches that he often found throughout his house. Katsu nudged him to get his attention and then pointed to the front of the room, where there were two specific people that stood out against the rest.

He cleared his throat. "That right there's my mom," he said, "and that's my dad. They're going to help new meisters at least hold their partners, make sure their wavelengths mate up good and stuff."

"Makes sense they would help in a workshop like this." Tidus leaned forward, placing his head in his hands. "That's not Death, right?"

"Who, that guy? No, that's Mortis. He was going to be a weapon, but something stopped him, and I don't know why."

Tidus squinted—realizing he would need new glasses soon—and took in the other boy's form. He seemed to be the same age as Katsu, with glowing, golden eyes, a tall stature, and fancy clothing. He silently scolded himself for thinking that could have been Death, for he was neither a formless-being nor a man with three stripes in his hair. In fact, he had blond hair that lightly brushed his shoulders and seemed to be almost too tall for his age.

He gave a quick wave to Maka and Soul and left the room, struggling through a throng of students that were rushing to get in before the bells rang to signal the next part of the day.

Clapping caught the attention of everyone in the room. "Well this should be easy and fun," said the woman with a light chuckle. "Hello everyone! I'm Maka, and this is Soul." She pointed to her partner, who gave a weak little wave.

"We're teaching you punks how to hold your partners without killing each other." He scanned the crowd, watching everyone whisper, and then, to Tidus' dismay, he pointed to him. "You. You going to be partnered with Katsu?"

He covered his face at the sound of his name and tried to hide.

"Yes, I guess so," Tidus said with a shrug. "What did you want with us?"

Soul gestured for them to come down and pushed away from the blackboard. The two stood up together and walked down, but Tidus was hanging back a bit, a little nervous still. Ugh, he was so stupid. Stupid for being scared, stupid for just being him; he put himself down so much at the moment that he almost did not realize that Soul was talking to him. He jerked to attention and listened, brushing his hair behind his ears to act as if he had not zoned out.

The man sighed. "Maka, you go."

"Okay," she said with a quiet laugh. She bounced up next to him, her hands on her hips. "Let's see how close your wavelengths are. Katsu, change to your weapon form. Tidus, try and hold him."

Katsu gave a nod and began to glow. He changed shape into a scythe, a rather peculiar one with leathery grips winding all the way up and down the pole. Tidus, knowing perfectly well how to handle a scythe, grabbed the handle, but Katsu would not budge. The class became more silent than they ever had the entire time they were there.

"I—I got this," Tidus said, trying to keep his voice as steady and calm as he could. He turned and gripped the handle over his head, turned and tried to swing him. But when he strained himself, waves of dark blue scattered over their bodies. Katsu was forced out of his weapon form, covering his mouth from the blood that dripped out, and Tidus fell over, throwing up.

The entire class erupted in a chorus of 'eeww!'s.

Soul knelt down next to Tidus. "You've got a lot of work to do if you want to become a meister," he said, pulling him to his feet. "Eugh, someone go get a towel or something! Now!"

One of the students stumbled down the tiered desks and ran out of the room. Katsu coughed up another mouthful of blood, staining the fingerless gloves on his hands. Maka patted his back gently until he was able to breathe again, her eyebrows furrowing.

"That's what happens when partners' wavelengths don't match up or cooperate," she said with a hint of curiosity in her voice. "You alright, Katsu?"

He nodded. "Yeah, what about Tidus?"

"He's fine," Soul said. "Go sit down, you'll feel better in a little while."

They collapsed back in their seats, not even noticing when another pair of partners went down to the front desk. Tidus felt nauseous, more so than before, and he pressed his hands to his stomach, hoping that the feeling would go away soon. In about half an hour they would be sent to the cafeteria for lunch, so he would wait it out until then and hope that food would make him feel better. He leaned forward and rested his head on a propped up hand, tapping his fingers on the desk to watch a sword and her meister work together almost perfectly.

He looked over to Katsu. "Do you think…do you think we can still be partners?" he asked quietly. Was he coming on too strong, like he was before? He jumped at the chance to be with anyone if they showed him they wanted to be friends.

"Yeah," Katsu said with a laugh. It was weak. "We just have…to work at it, you know? Maybe when we get to know each other better, yeah?"

Tidus nodded. "If we keep being partners we'll have a dorm together," he said. "Since we're both male and all. Right?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm male. But it'll be fun. We can make it work."

They continued to chatter quietly, stopping only when Maka looked up at the class and directed the attention to her. "Don't worry if you guys don't make it well as partners for right now," she said. "None of you, I assume, know each other very well, but a lot of you made good choices! For the rest you'll just have to work hard at it, though a partner switch might be in order if it's impossible for you two lift your weapon after a few weeks."

Letting out a sigh, Tidus rested his hand over his stomach again. That made him feel a little better, so he would work hard at being able to keep Katsu as his partner.

"You all may go to lunch now," Maka said, pointing out the door. She gave them all a sweet smile and then adjusted her long trench coat. "We'll be wandering around for a while if you want to ask a Death Scythe a question." Soul gave her a look, but all Maka did was laugh quietly. "See you guys around!"

Tidus waited until everyone else cleared out, but Katsu had not moved. "You going to go to lunch?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, I'm waiting for you," Katsu said. "You're a pretty cool guy, so I want to get to know you better. Is that okay? Maybe we can figure out why our wavelengths don't match up as well as we thought."

"Oh, yeah, that'll be nice. I like to talk." He stood up and bounced down the stairs, but all the while he knew that something was wrong with his soul. Unlike his father, he could not see souls, could not change his wavelength, nothing. He was about the same as any other, average meister, probably even a little less than average.

* * *

Shinzu: Well, this is highly unedited. I just wanted to get a feel for the main meister/weapon pair, first, and wanted to know what you all thought of it.


End file.
